Meadow Management and Native Wildflowers

We had to learn that caring for and maintaining a meadow, and encouraging wildflowers, was a gardening skill in itself. If left entirely to its own devices the meadow area would have lost its subtle beauty under tussocks of coarse grass, encroaching bracken, bramble and self sown tree saplings.

Cutting the grass was an art. When? and How? Too early and the bird and insect communities were robbed of ripe seed heads. Too late, and our clay soil would be waterlogged making mowing impossible. We aimed for late summer – season permitting. Some years we missed the opportunity and had a similar decision to make in early spring: before the grasses started growing in earnest and after the ground had dried out sufficiently to get onto it. The fact was, and looking at old photos has reminded me that before the pond was put in the meadow was vast.

We had a selection of mowers over the years, from a job lot of ancient Allen Scythes to a brand new but very unreliable ride-on. Initially we did the mowing with whatever mowers we had at the time. It was really hard work, the result looked rough and the mowers would soon be wrecked. After a while the compromise was made to buy the cheapest powered mower we could at the beginning of the season for use on the paths and lawns. We’d run it until it packed up on us. For the meadow grass we would hire a rough grass cutter for a day, delivered as early as possible. We’d take it in turns to mow and to rake. A second close cut was made with our domestic mower.

Meadow grass changes through the season gaining height, colour, from fresh green to bleached gold, and a variety of seed heads with a lush softness and delicacy. We found, as with the carpet of buttercups in the first season, wild flowers soon punctuated the grass, adding to the richness and diversity for wildlife.

We never felt the need to add more wildflower species because there were many occurring naturally without our intervention. Their populations and positions shifted and changed from year to year which added to the appeal. Sometimes garden’ flowers would establish themselves unexpectedly from dropped seeds.

Wildflowers. Cow Parsley, Foxglove, Herb Robert, Meadowsweet, Ox eye Daisy, Buttercup, Red Campion, Purple Loosestrife, Clover, Yarrow, Dock, Dandelion, Lady’s Smock, Common Orchid, Giant Hogweed.

Wildflowers under Trees. Bluebell, Celandine, Wood Anemone, Woody Nightshade, Primrose, Dog Rose, Old Man’s Beard, Honeysuckle, Wild Garlic.